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Some of the superstars of the period furniture world will gather June 25-27 at Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology, located in Lancaster, Penn., for a long weekend of demonstrations and discussion.
The event is the The Society of American Period Furniture Makers‘ Mid-year Conference, and if you like building 18th-century furniture, you are going to want to attend (I want to , badly , but my travel schedule prohibits it).
This year the presenters include Phil Lowe, Dave Lunin, Fred Wilbur and Don Williams. Lowe, a Cartouche winner and Director of the Furniture Institute of Massachusetts, will tackle case joinery for both straight and curved furniture pieces. Lunin, a builder of both traditional and contemporary furniture, will demonstrate turning practices applicable to period work. Wilbur, an author and master carver, will address topics such as gadrooning, egg-and-dart and acanthus to name but a few. And Williams, a senior conservator at the Smithsonian, will demonstrate historical furniture finishes and the “weird and wonderful tools and techniques surrounding them” (those are Don’s words — no surprise).
Members of the organization will gather for a reception-barbecue on Friday evening as well as banquet on Saturday night. Attendees are encouraged to bring pieces of their work for the members gallery or digital images for a presentation Saturday evening. On Friday, there will be an optional bus trip to Winterthur Museum where members of the curatorial and conservation staff will share some of their insights on this prestigious collection. A Saturday program for spouses will be available as well.
For more information, visit www.SAPFM.org, or contact Jim Altemus at cjaltemus@frontiernet.net, 585-657- 5328.
Note to self: Next year, don’t schedule anything for June.
– Christopher Schwarz
Note: The photos above are pieces from Dave Lunin.
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I mean wow the Dave Lunin picture of the chair at the top of the blog post is awesome. Too good.
Yeah, i stumbled into SAPFM awhile back when doing my life long search on wedged german dovetails, come to think of it,i most likely came here the same way!
They have got some serious woodworkers there no doubt, i am particularly fond of Jeff Headley’s stuff. He’s got a sofa table with QA aprons and hepplewhite legs with an iron grate that really WORKS.